[Goose]

Our track record of dealing with countries in the Middle East is poor.  Who knows what the world would be like if Eisenhower had refused Churchill's request for help to save its oil business in Iran.  I think all the democratic government in Iran wanted was half the profits, so today we have the Ayotalla.

There is however much more to the story. The elected leader of Iran was arguably clinically insane. At least that thread of opinion very strongly existed in the intelligence community, and his actions in general did nothing but reinforce the idea. It is very hard to say what would have happened if the US hadn't propped up the Shah. We know what happened doing what we did. We can't know whether another course of action (or inaction) would have been better.

[Goose]

Our track record of dealing with countries in the Middle East is poor.  Who knows what the world would be like if Eisenhower had refused Churchill's request for help to save its oil business in Iran.  I think all the democratic government in Iran wanted was half the profits, so today we have the Ayotalla.

There is however much more to the story. The elected leader of Iran was arguably clinically insane. At least that thread of opinion very strongly existed in the intelligence community, and his actions in general did nothing but reinforce the idea. It is very hard to say what would have happened if the US hadn't propped up the Shah. We know what happened doing what we did. We can't know whether another course of action (or inaction) would have been better.